Ode to Content.

Gazetteer and New Daily Advertiser (14 August 1766).

J. M.

A retirement ode in five irregular Spenserians (ababccdD) signed "J. M.": "thou secluded lov'st to dwell, | Far from the idly busy scene, | Where in the hollow, moss grown cell, | The solitary sage is seen." The ode imitates Thomas Gray's Hymn to Adversity (1753) by inverting the theme; there are also verbal echoes of Milton's Il Penseroso. The poem was reprinted in the London Magazine for August.

Come, with rosy garlands crown'd,
And every golden flow'r that blows;
Scatter ambrosial odours round,
And all thy thousand sweets disclose.
With thee to dwell the tuneful Nine
Delight, and hail thy pow'r divine;
Their notes now more melodious rise,
Now the full concert swells, and clears the shining skies.

Hence, ye delights of sordid minds—
Begone the world's fantastic pride;—
Though solemn Queen of sober smiles,
Alone can'st bid each care subside;
And not of long descent or pow'r
Avail to win thy peaceful hour,
Thou spurn'st such visionary things,
The glitt'ring pomp of wealth, and purple pride of Kings.

No — thou secluded lov'st to dwell,
Far from the idly busy scene,
Where, in the hollow, moss-grown cell,
The solitary sage is seen.
Now! now with thee I seem to rove,
The gloomy glade, the waving grove,
Now climb the mountain's rugged brow,
Now tread the flow'ry vale that winds along below.